The
Hollywood Reporter says Dreamworks Studios has acquired the film rights to
The Help, a bestselling novel written by Kathryn Stockett. Stockett's friend Tate Taylor has already adapted the novel into a screenplay. Tate Taylor will also direct the film.
Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus and Mark Radcliffe of 1492 Pictures will produce, along with Taylor and his producing partner, Brunson Green, of Harbinger Pictures.
A book-club favorite published by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam last year, "The Help" explores the complicated relationships between the matrons of the South in 1962 and the maids and housekeepers who take care of their kids and homes.
Author Kathryn Stockett said, "I cannot think of a better team than Tate Taylor and Brunson Green to bring 'The Help' to the screen. It's no coincidence that we three grew up within a one-mile radius of each other in Jackson, Miss. -- a place where there wasn't much for us to do but write, make movies in our heads and dream. I know Tate and Brunson will stay true to the story, and when you add DreamWorks and 1492 to the project, I am sincerely awed."
